Night After the Day Before
by TheUSofCalzona
Summary: After the shooting Arizona and Callie need to decide where they stand. If they stand together and where to go from here. Season 6 Story


A/N - Had this on my LJ and wanted to bring it over!

* * *

The door looked the same, exactly the same, since the last time she had seen it; same paint on the metal, same number on the door, same doorknob. Arizona stood outside of Callie's apartment, stood in front of the door that she had walked though so many times before, frozen in place. Because even if the door was the same, her world was different, so incredibly different, since the last time she had seen this door.

She pressed her head to the door. One hand reached for the doorknob, the other lay limply at her side. She took a few deep breaths as the events of the day washed over her. There had been a shooting at the hospital, colleagues and friends had been wounded or even killed. For the first time in her life, she joined her father, brother and grandfather in the experience of working in a war zone.

She lifted her head off the cool metal and adjusted her jacket that covered her scrubs. She knocked twice on the door and held her breath involuntarily until Callie opened it.

"Hey." Callie muttered.

"Hi." Arizona responded.

Arizona didn't move forward until Callie stepped back. She knew that the odds were good that they would be getting back together, but she felt like she did on the night of their first date. Her nerves were causing her to crave a cigarette, her one truly bad habit.

After Arizona walked into the apartment, Callie silently led the way to the kitchen, where two bottles of wine were sitting on the counter. Callie's heart was pounding in her chest and she had to dry her palms on her jeans before taking the bottle of white wine in her hand to open it.

Turning her back to Callie, Arizona grabbed two glasses from a shelf on the other side of the kitchen. She noticed the slight tremor affecting her hands as she set the glasses on the counter next to Callie, who poured the wine.

"To us," Callie said, lifting her glass between them. "To being in love with each other." She gave Arizona a little look before taking a large gulp of wine.

Arizona's cheeks heated as she lifted her glass in agreement and took a gulp of her own wine. She felt the events of the day really hit her as she looked out Callie's window and saw the police cars and fire trucks still at the hospital. She set her glass down with a shaking hand and moved to embrace Callie.

"You were so brave," she muttered as she nuzzled Callie's neck. She forgot about their break up, babies and their fights and just let her instinct to be held by this woman take over.

"I was protecting the one I love," Callie said, setting her wine down, her arms wrapping around Arizona's waist. "I love you, Arizona. I'm not in love with being in love; I'm not in love with the idea of you." She pulled her head back, already missing Arizona's cheek against her neck. "I am in love with Arizona Robbins, world class Pediatric surgeon, good man in the storm, the woman that gives so much of herself to the tiny humans she loves."

Arizona felt hot tears fill her eyes, distorting her vision of Callie. She blinked a few times, trying to hold them back, not wanting to lose sight of Callie for even a second. She managed to get her vocal cords to work long enough to whisper "I love you, Calliope."

Callie pulled Arizona back to her chest and rocked her softly as tears fall down both their cheeks. This was it. This was the moment that they had both wanted since the second that Arizona left Callie's apartment a month ago.

Arizona's thoughts drifted to her brother. Her wonderfully selfless little brother. He had given his life in a foreign country to protect the things he loved, had given everything he had to protect the country that he had loved so deeply. She thought of how scared he must have been, laying in his own blood, dying in the sand. She shivered in Callie's warm arms. "Guns always make me think of Danny," she whispered.

Callie closed her eyes and held Arizona as tight as she could. "I'm sure they do," she whispered, having no idea what to say to get her to stop shivering. "Tell me about him," She finally suggested. She knew very little about the other Robbins child, knew very little of the man that Arizona loved so deeply.

"He was so brave." Arizona couldn't help the smile or the tears that simple statement brought. "Dad raised us to be brave, loyal and honorable. Danny was all those things and so much more." Talking about him helped a lot, but being in Callie's arms while talking about it, helped even more.

"He sounds like you," Callie said, kissing Arizona's temple and brushing the hair off her neck to nuzzle it. "He sounds just like you: brave, honorable, heroic."

"I wish I were was half the person that he was," Arizona whispered, staring out the window and still seeing all the madness across the road. "I wish I could have done what you did today. Face the gunman."

"You did what you do best," Callie whispered, moving her forehead to rest against Arizona's. "You protected the tiny human, and I protected you."

"I never did thank you for that," Arizona laughed weakly, her chest feeling a little less restricted with Callie holding her. "You saved my life and the lives of everyone on that floor. You are a hero Calliope Torres."

"Let's go to our room and talk, there is so much to talk about," Callie whispered, planting a soft kiss on Arizona's lips, not ready to think of her actions from earlier.

"Our room," Arizona sighed contently. "I love when things are 'ours.'" She grabbed the white wine bottle and her glass in one hand, not wanting to let go of Callie's hand as they walked to the bedroom.

"You left some clothes here," Callie said softly, her nerves returning.

"I know." Arizona slowly walked over and pulled out the drawer that Callie had given her nearly a year ago for her things. She pulled out a t-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts. When she turned around Callie had her back facing her, changing into a cami and shorts. Arizona turned and changed, folding her clothes and putting them neatly on the floor.

Both women got into bed without saying a word, just holding each other as the sun started setting. Funny shadows were being cast on the walls and their own skin, though neither made a the move to turn on a light.

They didn't say anything as they lay in the dark room. Hearing the other breathing slowly in and out was enough for now. They stroked whatever skin on the other they could reach. Both knew how the other liked to be touched. Arizona liked to have a stronger touch; Callie's bone breaking hands were perfect for it. Callie liked a softer touch, and Arizona was nearly perfect at doing what she wanted.

"We should talk," Arizona said, finally breaking the silence.

Callie shifted, deciding to go first. "I know that you see sick kids every day." She reached out and cupped Arizona's neck, needing some contact, needing a lifeline. "You know better than most what can go wrong with children. But sometimes things go right, sometimes things go as planned. You have a little girl with blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes, she is born healthy, she goes to school and gets good grades, finds friends that will always have her back, goes off to college and finds someone who she wants to spend the rest of her life with. Sometimes it happens like that Arizona. That's why I want to have a baby. I am willing to believe it will happen like that for us."

Arizona closed her eyes to try to keep the tears from falling too quickly. "And sometimes you have a healthy baby boy with brown hair and a crooked nose, one that grows up to follow in his father's foots steps and you have to stand in an airplane hanger and watch him come home in a box. Sometimes you don't get to carry that child to term, sometimes they are born sick." She opened her eyes and looked at Callie, her hand shaking a little. "I don't know if I can hurt you like that."

"Hurt me like that?" Callie asked, not understanding what Arizona meant. "How would you be the one hurting me?"

"Because I would blame you, I would be mean and push you away, I would blame myself, the whole world if we lost our baby." Her tears were falling freely down her face. "I wouldn't be able to breathe if I had to watch our little girl be lowered into the ground in a tiny coffin." Arizona brought her hand up and roughly wiped her tears away.

Callie moved forward and pulled Arizona close so that they were forehead to forehead. "I wouldn't let you push me away. I wouldn't let you stop breathing." Callie kissed Arizona, holding both her hands tightly. "I would be your shelter and you would be mine. We would pick up and move forward because we are fighters." Part of her heart hurt at the thought of the what if's that Arizona brought up. She was a doctor; she knew all that could happen.

Arizona pushed Callie onto her back and snuggled up to her under the covers. "What if you had her and then you died and she got taken away, or the other way around?" It was a deep fear that she had. She knew that in the eyes of the law, they were second class. It burned. She was raised with a deep love of her country, her brother gave his life for that country, her father, four uncles, her grandfathers all served it and she couldn't get married in most states, including Washington, couldn't have the same protections.

Callie didn't say anything. She was still semi-new to the laws and rules and didn't really know. "I won't die and neither will you," she whispered, stroking Arizona's arm softly. "I am too stubborn to die and you are too awesome." She kissed Arizona, wanting nothing more than to be able to take away all her fears.

Arizona panted softly after the kissed ended, just breathing in tandem. "I will have a baby with you but you better be there to calm me down when I become a hot mess," she warned Callie, her arms tight around the other woman's waist.

"I will always be there for you," Callie whispered, her eyelids growing heavier as time passed. "But right now, you and I need to go to bed sleep. So that tomorrow we can pack up your apartment and move you back here."

"Yeah?" Arizona asked softly, biting her bottom lip nervously.

"Yeah. I want you back here where you belong. That is, if you want to? I mean, I guess we haven't really talked about...everything, but..." Callie rambled, suddenly worried she was moving too fast for Arizona.

"Want to? Of course I want to," Arizona said quickly. "You're right, though. We still have a lot to talk about, but we'll talk and we'll figure it all out. I don't want to let you go ever again."

"Me neither," Callie whispered.

Arizona stroked Callie's cheek very softly, smiling her super magic smile. "Good night, Calliope. I love you," she whispered, closing her eyes.

"Love you, too," Callie whispered right before sleep overtook her.


End file.
